Teachers could be superspreaders due to lack of mitigation measures admits Matt Hancock

[noblegiraffe]

Ok, he didn’t say it outright, but he admitted that what was hoped to stop coronavirus spreading in schools was teachers maintaining 2m distance from pupils at all times.

Teachers have been saying for months that this is impossible due to small classrooms where there just isn’t enough space to be 2m away from your front row of students. It’s also impossible to support a child from 2m away when you need to see what they are doing, but literally zero thought has been given to this.

But that’s it. That’s all the protection that will be given to teachers - an impossible directive to social distance.

Matt Hancock said this morning “The principle is that we want to keep certain teachers socially distanced from the pupils because there are all sorts of circumstances where a teacher might need to teach classes that are in different bubbles within the school.”

Secondary teachers will routinely be teaching all year groups in a school. Supply teachers will be going between schools.

“My answer to you is that it is the social distancing between the teacher and pupils which is the goal here, but our total focus is on getting the schools back”

Getting the schools back. Not getting them back safely. Not ensuring that they stay open and that staff and pupils stay safe.

www.tes.com/news/hancock-keep-supply-teachers-distanced-pupils

I have many teacher friends. None of them say that they can social distance in their classrooms.

It's all unravelling.

Getting the schools back. Not getting them back safely. Not ensuring that they stay open and that staff and pupils stay safe.

Sad but true. They know social distancing isn't possible, but if they've told the teachers / staff to do it then that allows the opportunity for blame. We told the teachers to keep their distance, they didn't listen.

My DD is 6 and was upset yesterday and today when going into the classroom, it's been 6 months without school so she's a bit nervous about it, understandably.

First thing the teacher did yesterday and the TA did today on seeing her crying was pull her into a hug and tell her it would be OK.

It was the right response, it's what DD needed, it's also proof that social distancing just isn't possible or appropriate at that age.

It does feel like that, Barbie. They were hoping that cases would be low and falling in September and they’re not. They were hoping that it would be proved that kids couldn’t really get it but they can. They were really pinning their hopes on the idea that kids couldn’t give it to teachers but that one has fallen too.

So they’re left with a ‘fingers crossed everybody’

It's a farce. We probably are ending up being superspreaders because we've not got face masks and can't socially distance and parents are sending kids in when their kids are coughing. No one is mentioning that - I had to send 4 kids home today who were coughing constantly in my lessons. Iasked if they'd been like it this morning and they all had been!!!

Yep. No space. And what about behaviour? Generally-non-compliant pupils aren't going to suddenly behave after six months off. There is no hope of social distancing. Eight year old dgd says 'I would distance but other people come right up and hug you!' It's ok though, because when infections rise you can blame the teachers.

I only teach y10-13. Many of them are bigger than me. I can't get 2m from the front row. I'm not allowed to go and sit with the struggling child to help them, or to see what they're doing. I'm in 6 "bubbles". We are allowed to wear masks in the corridors but not in the classroom where we'll be in a group of up to 35 for two hours at a time with windows that open only a couple of inches.
I want to be back. Most of them want to be back. But this is worrying.
Of course the teacher should have hugged the pp's child... but if that child now gets ill, that teacher could find themselves accused of misconduct for getting too close. That's not right.

They will blame teachers when cases rocket. The job is impossible to do safely at the moment.

@MrsHamlet we've had to accept that getting C19 is the likely outcome of sending DD back to school. You can guarantee though that if she does I won't be telling anyone about the hugs, no way will I say anything that could get those 2 lovely ladies in trouble just because they care about the children they care for!

[quote TorysSuckRevokeArticle50]@MrsHamlet we've had to accept that getting C19 is the likely outcome of sending DD back to school. You can guarantee though that if she does I won't be telling anyone about the hugs, no way will I say anything that could get those 2 lovely ladies in trouble just because they care about the children they care for![/quote]
That's actually brought a tear to my eye, and I'm known for my cold, dead heart.
Sometimes they just need a hug... even the enormous y13 rugby lads.

I am allowed to wear a mask, and I do in the corridors and if I go closer to the pupils.
I have found speaking (projecting the way you do as a teacher) really hard to do and I always end up taking off my mask. I would really like to keep it on though. It has crossed my mind I could record my lessons at home and lip sync them! (I wouldn't even need to lip sync would I, duh.)

I can imagine teachers refusing to teach classes where they can't SD and quoting Matty Boy as the reason why.

Or only letting half the class in, maybe.

Thing is though, what would your solution be? We have to get children back to school, for the sake of their education and mental health.

Many of us have been back at work, dealing with colleagues and the public with limited protection and having to manage social distancing for months now. We've just had to find ways around it.

Would you not reopen schools? Genuine question.

@DonaldTrumpsChopper I'd fund it, so that bubbles of 15 could run.
I wouldn't shut schools but I might have to accept a part time timetable at points until the rates fell.

@DonaldTrumpsChopper

Matt said “The principle is that we want to keep certain teachers socially distanced from the pupils because there are all sorts of circumstances where a teacher might need to teach classes that are in different bubbles within the school.”

Has the same been said about your place of work? If that's how Matt says it should be then he needs to facilitate it.

Part time one week in school, one week online would be an obvious solution.

There's no "having to manage social distancing". It can't be managed in my school. I want schools open too, but I don't want people lying about what it will be like.

I think they should have run a proper part time timetable at the end of the summer term as recommended by SAGE and then used that opportunity to fine tune it for this September. Otherwise they should have started September on a part time timetable then adjusted it as the impact became more apparent,

certain teachers being every teacher in my school because we all teach multiple year groups. And that'll be the same in every secondary in the land, and probably many primaries too.

I agree @FlySheMust

@Barbie222 that would be my preferred choice, especially for Secondary.

And @FlySheMust

We should welcome him gracefully to the party 🤦🏼‍♀️

Can't believe the penny has dropped finally.

I work within SS.

SD was never going to be an option. You can't tell a child who doesn't know what 2 is to keep 2m distance. It would be unfair to have expectations on them they cannot manage.

Plus most classes have 3-4 staff. And I'll be accessing various bubbles over 2 schools as federation.

I hope they don't blame teachers or the staff.

It's the nature of the setting.

Thing is though, what would your solution be?

Other countries have implemented various measures, all of which would cost money or involve kids being in school on a rota, therefore they have all been dismissed by our government who only prioritise things that directly affect them.

It really isn’t a case of ‘back as normal or schools don’t re-open’ but the government are painting it as such because they don’t want to fund anything like masks/visors/screens/extra teachers and more classrooms/proper IT for kids to be learning at home part time.

Sad but true. They know social distancing isn't possible, but if they've told the teachers / staff to do it then that allows the opportunity for blame. We told the teachers to keep their distance, they didn't listen.

Absolutely this. They are simply looking for people to be in right place to allocate blame to. They know it's impossible for teachers to social distance, but they have set out the guidelines, so it will be another thing to whip our great teaching professionals for. Disgrace really.